


Plans and Dancing

by navaan



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/F, First Dance, Getting Together, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-27 06:05:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: Stephanie wants to help Cass plan how to take down crime bosses with an undercover mission - and ends up teaching and learning something important at the same time.





	Plans and Dancing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [engmaresh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/engmaresh/gifts).



“You would have to choose a ball gown,” Steph suggested from where she was perched on the edge of her bed, sucking on a terribly sweet cherry lollipop that for some reason Cass had brought her. Perhaps it was her way of an apology for barging into Steph’s room via the window at the apartment Stephanie shared with her nowadays overprotective and always worried mother clad in the full costume of the Black Bat. Perhaps Cass had simply remembered that Stephanie liked sweet and sticky things.

Underneath the shroud of blank expressions and mysterious silence that had been forged by the harsh upbringing Cassandra had lived through, she was a real sweetheart; with her ability to read people that had been meant to make her a better assassin she'd become one of the most empathic people Stephanie had met. It was entirely plausible that Cass had picked up the lollipop because it reminded her of Steph.

Cassandra considered the suggestion for a long moment, her head cocked to the side like that of an attentive bird of prey. Then she shook her head. “Won’t work.”

“Sure, it’ll work. You can sneak in as one of the nice young proper society ladies going to the ball. You could ask Tim or someone to accompany you even! Tim would do it! He's good with undercover work! And with the right dress, you can carry in a whole arsenal of weapons and nobody would know.” Warming to her own plan, Stephanie stopped liking the cherry sweetness of the sticky sugar from her lips and waved the lollipop around like a wand. “I mean. Not that you need to. You’re carrying in yourself, and you’re the most deadly thing _I_ know. People should fear you more than the Bat!”

“Nah,” s disagreed — one syllable just like her, but drawn out and colloquial that it made Stephanie wonder who she'd picked it up from. How much time had she spent with the Batboys lately? Damian? Cass and Damian shared a sad history; it wouldn't be surprising if Cass had picked this up from the little devil.

"Why not?" Stephanie could just see it: Cass stepping into the ballroom in a beautiful dress, pale lilac to compliment her eyes, the picture of a quietly shy beauty with dark almond eyes. And then she'd unleash all hell on the room the moment the gang of sleazy dirtbags who had been haunting these events recently made their move. It would be complete mayhem of beautiful justice. 

Steph would love to see it. 

"I could make up your hair and help you with make-up," she offered and grinned, licking the sugar from her lips before popping the lollipop back in her mouth to have her hands free to gesture. She grabbed her own hair and started - lollipop pushed to the corner of her mouth: "Like this! Or that!" 

She mimicked possible hairstyles that would go well with the current length of Cass' silky black hair.

"Never learned how to dance," Cass interrupted.

Stephanie froze mid-motion.

Oh. Right. In the education of a silent assassin, meant to be the next in line after lady Shiva things like _language_ hadn't been deemed important. Why would anyone have thought to teach the girl _dancing_ \- for social reasons or fun?

"You can learn," Stephanie suggested quietly. "I can teach you."

Cass had pulled back the shawl she wore as part of the black costume and wrapped the cape tighter around her shoulders. Then she let herself fall back into a sitting position on the bed beside Stephanie, her shoulders tense. For a moment they were sitting together in silence, the only sound being the Gotham wind rattling at her window occasionally. 

Finally, Cass nodded. "Okay. Teach me."

And that was when Stephanie had an epiphany. She pulled the lollipop from her mouth, waving it like a baton this time and grinned.

"Let's start with the good _dancing_ though."

* * *

She ended up making up Cass' hair and picking a casual dress for her. Then she had her sit by and watch as she got ready herself, choosing a pink dress she hadn't had any reason to wear in ages. When had she gone out last? Just for fun? Not as Batgirl?

A hand settled on her's while she brushed her hair, and she was surprised to look up and meet Cass' dark and curious gaze in the mirror. 

"Let me," Cass said and brushed the tangles and knots out of her hair carefully. 

For the fun part, Steph chose one of the safer clubs in Gotham - one where you didn't run into crime like clockwork. This one was popular with other university students, and she'd heard good things about the music. 

"That is dancing," Steph introduced Cass as she let her get a glimpse of the mass of moving bodies urged on by the impelling, high-energy music that had assaulted them even before they'd stepped into the club. You could feel it, feel the music move you.

Cass grinned. "I know that," she said and took Steph's hand, taking her by surprise again. 

She should have expected it.

Cass was smart and graceful, blessed with the kind of body control and coordination that came with years and years of martial arts training.

Steph had imagined it would be her leading her friend out to the dance floor to show her how it was done: let the music take and move you, walk through unscripted steps with the crowd around you and just enjoy the spontaneous freedom that came with just going with the flow, with the beat, the joy of living. Instead, Cass smiled - and honest, a beautiful smile she let the world see very rarely - and pulled Stephanie along until they were in the middle of the dance floor. Without second thoughts or care, she started to move, falling into a rhythm that seems to go along with the music and yet set her apart from anyone else in the room. 

It was the beauty of movement.

A dragon having risen in the middle of the dancefloor, capturing the colorful lights around her - that was Cass at that very moment. Power, danger, and beauty folded into one.

She held out her hand, and Steph didn't need to think twice: She took her hand and started moving with her, following _her_ steps until they were moving in sync and figuring out each other's footsteps. Their bodies knew each other, knew how to fight together, protect each other, and yet it was a wholly different thrill to find the familiar shape brush and press against her. Steph's own hands settled on Cassandra's back, stroked her shoulders, one brushed her cheek and brought their faces closer together. They were both flushed, red in the faces with the heat and the joy of the moment - the room might just as well have been empty but for them.

Her heart fluttered, and she felt that tingle of excitement that she'd felt with Tim at a time. She flushed more when Cass wrapped her arms around her and whispered: "Thank you."

"You won't thank me when I teach you formal dancing," Steph shouted in her ear above the sound of the music.

Cass pulled back to look at her, still with a soft private smile that sent a thrill to Steph. "I will thank you," Cass said, and it sounded very formal in her quiet way, unused to words for so long. She leaned in and kissed Steph on the lips.

It was a surprise. Another thrill. An answer and a promise.

Steph kissed back - careful and yet passionate and with her lips closed. She couldn't remember when anything this chaste and normal had ever been this much of a turn on. Normal wasn't a regular occurrence for them though, and when she met Cass dark eyes again, she saw an echo of the building need there that perhaps had always been there and that yet both of them hadn't been able to communicate with their complicated histories. 

"You taste of cherry and sugar," Cass observed in her hero voice. 

They were still standing there, moving slowly now against each other with their arms wrapped around each other.

"Thanks to you," Steph whispered.

"Thank you for taking me dancing."

"Thank me," she whispered. "Properly. Later."

There would be time to teach Cass the dancing she needed to go undercover, time to fight crime together and time to dance and kiss and touch. And Steph would value every second of it.


End file.
